


Interlude

by Eternal



Series: Aequitasverse [2]
Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2599712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal/pseuds/Eternal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Doctor lands his TARDIS in Beijing to refuel, Inaho and Saazbaum go shopping together and end up with a lot of fluffy birds. Slaine and Asseylum are delighted.</p><p>A short fluffy story set between chapter 11 and 12 of Aequitas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The latest TARDIS stop off was at Beijing to refuel near a rift, so the Doctor said that they were free to roam for the day. Saazbaum’s preference would have been to meander aimlessly in the lower parts of the TARDIS or amuse himself with programming arrays than mingle with filthy Terrans on an alternate Earth. 

Unfortunately, there was only one kitchen on board the TARDIS and it was located at a distance from the central console and he risked running into Slaine, Asseylum and Inaho on the way there. And the Count preferred not to exist on tea and chocolate all day. The food machine, Saazbaum decided, was worth rearing his head from the antisocial existence spent lurking on the ship on the rare days when his life wasn’t put in any immediate danger. 

The Count went to breakfast, but Inaho ambushed him first. 

‘We’re going shopping,’ the boy butted in breezily. Inaho was wearing a beanie, gloves and a thick muffler was wrapped around his mouth and neck, clearly prepared for the midwinter outside. He held up a list containing a variety of items that the Count had never even heard of. Seeds. Gardening equipment. Food supplies. 

‘Take Slaine instead.’ He intoned crisply. 

The Count was about to stalk off but Inaho had a firm grip on the back of his coat and with a shove he sent the Martian sprawling, taking the man by surprise. He got one booted foot over Saazbaum’s neck, but the Count kicked the boy’s shins. He wasn’t Cruhteo by any distance, but this time Inaho had gone too far. He grabbed the boy by the collar, eyes blazing. 

‘You insolent fool, don’t you have any respect for your elders?’ Saazbaum snarled.

‘Do you have a suitable explanation in mind if the Doctor finds out about this little incident?’ Inaho responded. Despite the fact he was dangling a little and Saazbaum had both hands around his neck, his eyes were as wide and clear. ‘Keep in mind that he knows exactly what kind of person you are.’ 

Looking at Inaho’s eyes was like looking at a deep lake with a mirror at the bottom. The Count dropped him in disgust. It rankled him to look at his own hatred. 

Inaho landed lightly on his feet, brushing the incident off in mere moments. ‘If a hypothetical person started off an unprovoked attack, isn’t it morally right if they start making reparations?’

‘You provoked me first in this instance.’ 

‘Well, I wasn’t the one who started a genocide. What about assisting with the rebuilding effort?’ He was still holding out the shopping list. This time, Saazbaum reluctantly accepted it.


	2. Chapter 2

The buildings here were crammed with hawkers and customers purchasing food products. Scales were suspended from springs attached to the booths roofed with colourful materials. Up above, large LCD screens advertised various products which were mostly electronic and comparatively primitive. 

The Count was still wearing the bright red martian uniform, attracting glances from a gaggle of tourists who were busy photographing their peers in front of the large stone temples. There was a large stone lion inset into the ground, one paw atop a large iron sphere. A few people were consulting brochures, cameras strapped around their waist and their hands around smartphones. 

‘You’ve never seen chickens before, have you?’ Inaho pointed at the live animal markets. Behind tiny rusty iron bars, hens clucked and were crammed into tiny cages. Other cages held other birds such as pidgeons which were softly cooing and geese. Every now and again, the birds jostled and moved side on so they could direct eyes and the occasional butt feathers at the newcomers. 

Upon making a sale, the store owner caught a bird which fluttered frantically, trying to escape and decapitated it and prepared the meat. 

Barbaric. He sniffed disapprovingly. 

Inaho consulted his list. ‘Could I get you to grab some chickens, pork and beef?’


	3. Chapter 3

‘Could I purchase all your birds?’ Saazbaum asked the shopkeeper. 

‘I’m sorry sir?’ The man seemed suspicious. 

‘All of them. Live.’ 

‘That’s going to run you up a lot of money. And where you going to keep them. Hey!’ When the Terran failed to respond the Saazbaum simply walked over to one of the cages. The lock mechanism was simple but it was resilient so he pulled out a gun intending to break it. Several passers-by screamed and there was a mad dash out of the area. Several people fainted. 

‘What the hell are you doing?’ The shopkeeper yelled. ‘Someone call the police.’ The Count shot the lock. It was a calculated trajectory, causing the mechanism to explode precisely. He removed the twisted metal and out fanned white wings and feathers of several pigeons, causing the people in the area to panic harder as they cooed. 

It was a sight to behold. One of the birds collided with a woman pushing a pram causing the busy street to fall apart like a row of dominoes.


	4. Chapter 4

When Inaho returned there was pandemonium. Now what? He thought unhappily. 

‘Move out of the way,’ He called, pushing people out of the way with his free hand, shopping in the other. He came across three people in black trying to restrain a rather irritated Saazbaum. 

‘How dare you,’ the Count was shouting. 

Five baby ducks and one larger duck was waddling next to his leg and most of the cages were hanging open.

When the officer tried to arrest the Count, the mother duck bit the man hard causing him to howl. 

‘Excuse me, let me get through.’ He squeezed through the crowd and orientated himself right next to the warrant officer. ‘I’m afraid there must have been a misunderstanding. This guy’s my dad.’

The officer looked at him like he was an idiot, holding the handcuffs. ‘Excuse me mister, but your father has been arrested for assault and pulling a gun in public.’

‘Oh? I’m afraid that he hasn’t been too good in the mind recently since the death of my mother.’ Saazbaum’s eyes narrowed into murder but Inaho pressed on, pulling the appropriate expression from his databank of emotions. The officer’s eyes flickered. ‘He’s receiving adequate mental care but we’re moving him to a proper care facility later today.’ He handed the officer a card. On it were some details including a phone number. ‘Please call me if anything else comes up.’

‘But what about my birds,’ the shopkeeper called, aggrieved. Feathers and blood were stuck to the bald man’s apron. ‘I want to sue for damages.’

‘That’s easily dealt with,’ Inaho called. He wired a six digit figure from the credit card the Doctor had sonicked up to the man’s bank account and pulled the resentful Saazbaum in with him.


	5. Chapter 5

In the end, a somewhat battered Saazbaum ended up wheeling an entire shopping trolley filled with the soft cheeping of chickens and followed by a family of ducks. Most of the other flighted birds had escaped, although it was likely that some of them would return to terrorise the locals. 

‘I’m not looking after all these birds.’ Inaho said, carrying his own shopping. ‘You are.’ 

‘Hmphh. I am glad of it or it would be an additional example of Terran wastefulness.’


	6. Chapter 6

When Inaho returned to his room with the hexagonal roundels set in the walls, Saazbaum was flipping through a photo album. One of the pages held a photo of a woman and a man was smiling. Surrounding them were colourful ribbons and balloons. 

‘It’s rude just to walk in and go through other people’s possessions you know.’ Inaho said, setting the equipment down on the bed and unplugging his charged phone. Of course, he’d left only the unimportant materials in the surface shelf, his more important possessions were stored half a meter underneath the soft grey carpet in a 10 digit vault. 

To the far end of the bedroom lay his bed. Occupying the greatest area was a large suite of concentric suite of desks containing monitors and electronic equipment. They sat in a shallow circular depression. The cables extended inwards like spokes on a wheel, draining into a central repository. He discretely double checked the security of the phone and computers, thumbed his nose and sat crosslegged on his bed, plugging in a bunch of headphones and connecting to the news channels across a limited period.

He wanted… no, he needed to know how the battle would be fought and lost. Or fought and won. 

‘Culture and courtesy are the preserve of Earth.’ Nevertheless, the Count shut the photo album. ‘I won’t deny the fact that I am curious, however.’

‘My parents. They were dead before my first birthday. Your side was awfully efficient at killing people during the war.’ Through the soft blue glow of his headphones, Inaho cast the Martian another glance.

‘I’ve lost people too in the war. If it helps, I am sorry for your loss.’ 

Inaho zoned him out and focused on the news report.

‘Reporting live from the scene of the latest Kataphrakt devastation…’


	7. Chapter 7

By the time Saazbaum had returned to his own bedroom, it had already been extended. The white panelled with the soft lighting had been extended about 200 metres in both directions and the extra space had been converted into a lush cordoned pasture where the birds were now located.

‘Clever.’ He muttered. It confirmed his suspicions that the TARDIS was modelling the rooms based on the occupants. The interior of his room was similar to the interior of his landing castle although it had been retrofitted with a more ergonomic design. 

He had additional suspicions too. He sensed that the TARDIS was subtly influencing his mood, rearranging the more aggressive thoughts and filling him with a sense of peace that he hadn’t felt since Orlane had died. Then there was its ability to get into his mind and translate words which the Doctor had acknowledged.  
Disturbing, but also reassuring. 

A knock at the door. 

‘Come in.’ 

Slaine walked through with the Princess. ‘Oh Count Saazbaum,’ she said, eyes lighting up. The boy was clearly reconciling the attempted assassination attempt on Asseylum with the large number of fluffy animals.

‘Birds?’ She said in wonder. 

‘I picked them up with Inaho earlier today.’

One chick cheaped and bumped its tiny beak into Princess’ palm. Very soon in the pasture she was surrounded by fluffy animals. After a few moments, glancing around the room, Slaine too put a tentative palm out. One of the birds nuzzled it. He seemed sad. 

Very well. The Count removed a book from the glass bookshelf. A small red bound one with ivory pages. Another person poked their head in, a large suitcase in hand with a flexible with a telescoped handhold. He dragged the luggage in some way and deposited the handle. 

‘What’s that for?’ Asseylum enquired.

‘Oh just some stuff I was preparing for when we head back to Earth.’ Inaho shrugged. ‘Seeds, tools that sort of thing. For Earth, you know. ’ He joined the others in the pasture. ‘Might as well.’ He ran his hand over the sea of fluff absently and some little heads tilted themselves up curiously. He actually smiled.

‘Count Saazbaum, why don’t you join us?’ The princess was holding one of the birds to her bosom. The chicken flapped its wings and chirped. 

Saazbaum closed his eyes as if in pain. He was. ‘Fluffy animals aren’t exactly my area of expertise, Princess.’ He said.

A duck awkwardly wriggled out of the enclosure. It moved its body from side to side and popped out. Four smaller birds managed to join it. The baby ones. Saazbaum side-eyed them with the look he usually reserved for small children. 

They waddled in a single file to Saazbaum. ‘Oh no you don’t.’ The Count muttered and walked to one side, holding the book shut with one hand. They didn’t get the hint and followed him, encircling his feet.

It would have been less awkward if Inaho wasn’t looking at him with that gaze which panned everything as if the boy was recording every minute of the Count’s discomfort. 

‘Oh, I think they like you!’ 

About as much as I like you, Princess. The Count thought glumly. 

‘They must have if they followed you all the way from the market,’ Inaho observed candidly. 

The Count yelped when of them nibbled the hem of one trouser leg. He tried to awkwardly step over the two in front but they nimbly reached out with their beaks and tugged him gently forward. ‘Very well then.’ He grumbled slightly and walked over.


	8. Chapter 8

The TARDIS was empty by the time the Doctor had gotten back and Anji had drifted off to her room. 

So the Doctor went and sneaked through the rooms and found Saazbaum, Inaho, Asseylum and Slaine all peacefully asleep in a tight pile close together. The white light had been dimmed down and there were chickens nesting in the Count’s hair, an uncommonly gentle smile gracing the features normally touched by calculation. Chickens had also trickled down to roost snugly Slaine’s back. A few chickens slept in Inaho’s armpits and in his outstretched hands. They huddled around Asseylum, one of them had a few tufts of hair in its beak.

‘Good night,’ The Doctor said softly, quietly. And tip-toed out, careful to shut the door behind him.


End file.
